Opinion from a guy in the stands

January 22, 2017

Match Ratings: Albion Rovers 0-3 Celtic

Pretty much a case of job done. We weren’t brilliant nor bad but did what we had to do.
We face Inverness at home in the next round. I couldn’t believe we’d been given a home tie in the Scottish cup either! It’s a good tie against decent opposition but we shouldn’t really be worried about anyone in Scotland at home.
I wasn’t keen on doing match reports on the site – I’ll leave that to the professionals. Instead I’ll do a player rating system and write a little about the main ones. I’m sure you’ll let me know if you disagree.
So, tin hat on and here goes.

Definitely the man of the match. He had the full back on toast and looked dangerous every time he had the ball. His goal looked like it was going miles over the bar from where I was standing. There wasn’t much wind so kudos for generating that amount of dip.
Two keepers wouldn’t have saved that!

Moussa Dembele – 6

I wont lie, I thought he was poor. Probably more unlucky than anything else, but not much was going his way. Credit should go to the Albion Rovers defence who dealt with his threat aptly. The sign of a good striker is still getting on the score sheet without playing well and that’s exactly what he did today. Also his 20th goal of the season in just 37 appearances.

Dedryck Boyata – 8

I’m far from Boyata’s biggest fan but credit where it’s due – an excellent performance today. Okay it’s lower league opposition and we weren’t really tested defensively but whenever Rovers cleared the ball towards their target man Boyata won the ball – that comes down to a physical battle. In this kind of battle ability doesn’t really come into it. A big brute in non-league football would shove Messi off the ball if they came shoulder to shoulder. Well, if Messi didn’t nutmeg him first. Only Boyata’s second appearance this season and probably won’t be at Celtic much longer he did a decent job of putting himself in the shop window today.
Really unlucky not to score too!